Only 3 women from region make it to Parliament

Parliament passed the women’s reservation Bill in the last session but only three women will be representing the states and Union Territories north of the national capital in the 18th Lok Sabha. BJP’s Kangana Ranaut with her mother after her victory in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, on Tuesday. (PTI) Of the 34 seats that went to the polls in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territories of Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, women candidates emerged successful in only three on Tuesday. The winners are Mandi BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut, 37, Bathinda Shiromani Akali Dal nominee Harsimrat Kaur Badal, 57, and Congress’ Sirsa winner Kumari Selja, 61. While Kangana is a Bollywood actor-turned-politician, Harsimrat and Selja belong to influential political families. Witness the final chapter of the Lok Sabha Elections unfold on HT with live vote count and results. Explore now! Explore now! People’s Democratic Party Anantnag-Rajouri candidate and former CM Mehbooba Mufti, who tasted defeat at the hands of National Conference’s Mian Altaf, was the lone woman nominee in Jammu and Kashmir. Of the 37 candidates in the fray from four parliamentary constituencies in Himachal Pradesh this time, only three are women, including Kangana. Kangra Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Rekha Chaudhary and Rakhee Gupta, an Independent nominee from Mandi, both lost. Only one of the 16 women candidates in the fray from Haryana made it. Kumari Selja, who won from Sirsa (reserved) is already a four-time Lok Sabha member and the daughter of former MP late Dalbir Singh. She has won twice earlier from Sirsa and two times from Ambala. Both women members of the Chautala family, Hisar JJP candidate Naina Chautala and her ser-in-law and INLD rival Sunaina lost. From Ambala, Banto Kataria, the wife of late former Union miner Rattan Lal Kataria, was also defeated. The JJP fielded Kiran Punia, the daughter-in-law of former state miner and Dalit leader late Kripa Ram Punia, from Ambala but she too tasted defeat. Though the BSP fielded Ritu Singh from Chandigarh, she was nowhere in the reckoning. Punjab matched the dismal record with Harsimrat, the sitting MP from Bathinda, emerging as the lone woman winner. All women candidates fielded the BJP, namely Preneet Kaur, a four-time MP who switched from the Congress this time, lost from Patiala, while former IAS officer Parampal Kaur was defeated in Bathinda and Anita Som Prakash in Hoshiarpur.